Wigan support Russell Crowe plan to take rugby league to Las Vegas

Russell Crowe, the Hollywood actor who also co-owns South Sydney, has outlined plans to take rugby league to the US. Photograph: Armando Arorizo/Empics

Wigan have given their enthusiastic backing to a proposal from the Hollywood actor and South Sydney co-owner Russell Crowe for an expanded World Club Challenge that could even be taken to Las Vegas.

The Super League champions will make their first WCC appearance since 1994 when they face St George Illawarra Dragons at the DW Stadium in February but their chairman, Ian Lenagan, would be delighted to give up home advantage in future if the fixture can be developed along the lines envisaged by Crowe.

"I have in mind that rugby league can create in America the same type of opportunity that the Premier League has in Europe with the Uefa and Champions League competitions," he wrote in an email to the Sydney Morning Herald.

"The only way the USA will be excited by rugby league is to see it played with the best players. The game has a foothold there but much more needs to be done to bring it to the attention of the [American] football-loving public."

That's what the operators of The Pirate Bayare probably saying right now -- in Swedish, of course -- after a court in Stockholm upheld their criminal conviction Thursday for copyright infringement.

According to the Motion Picture Association of America, the court denied appeals made by Frederik Neij, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundstrom, operators of the infamous online piracy destination, Pirate Bay.

In upholding the April convictions of the three men, the court trim their sentences: Neij will do 10 months of hard time, Sunde eight months and Lunsdstrom four months.

However, the court also upped the fine the trio must pay to 46 million SEK (about $6.6 million U.S.).

"Now that a Swedish court has declared the operators of The Pirate Bay guilty of copyright infringement for a second time, we hope the relevant authorities will take the appropriate action to ensure that the site ceases its illegal activities," said MPA Europe president and managing director Chris Marcich, in a statement.

'Ugly Betty' Actor Confesses to Mother's Slaying

"Ugly Betty" actor Michael Brea confessed to hacking his mother to death with a sword in an interview with The Daily News, the paper reported.

"I didn't kill her. I killed the demon inside her," he said in the interview, conducted Thursday in the prison yard of New York City's Bellevue Hospital.

Yannick Brea, 55, died Tuesday.

"So be it. It was the work of God," Brea, 31, told the paper.

In the interview, Brea talked about a descent into a world of Masonic symbolism and black magic. He said he suddenly awoke Sunday to find God above his bed, reaching out his arm.

"I said, 'God, is my time on earth over?' I heard a voice say, 'Yes Michael, today is your last day.' I asked if I could say goodbye to my family."

He said he received another sign Monday at Harlem's Prince Hall Masonic Temple, when a man tried to put a curse on him. He said the man kept trying to give him a Freemason pin, which he refused to accept. He later took a train to Brooklyn, he said, and strangers began speaking about his mother.

"I felt like Neo from 'The Matrix.' I began hearing voices and feeling powerful," Brea said. "They were asking about the difference between mom and mother. It was a sign."

When he got home, he hugged his Haitian immigrant mother, because ""I knew I would never see my mother again," he said. "I gave her lots of love."

He went to his room, lit candles and used a 3-foot ceremonial Freemason sword to attack. It was earlier reported to be a samurai sword.

"I asked, 'Do you believe in God?' She said, 'No, Michael no,' and began screaming. I began slashing her like this," he said, imitating a hacking motion.

Brea said he is convinced he did the right thing.

"Grand Architect of the Universe means God," he told the paper, repeating an expression neighbors said he shouted as police removed him from the scene. "I was praising God. To you it might sound silly, but in my culture demons are very real."

Universal has set a date for "The Thing" prequel, planning to release the horror pic on Oct. 14.

The film was originally set for an April 29 release, but the studio decided to remove it from that slot and replace it with the next installment in the "Fast and the Furious" series, "Fast Five."

The schedule change will allow for reshoots to enhance existing sequences. And given the film's horror elements, a release closer to Halloween could be a better fit.

Based on director John Carpenter's 1982 horror pic that starred Kurt Russell and was itself a remake of 1951's "The Thing From Another World," the latest version is again set in Antarctica and follows a group of U.S. scientists on an expedition who discover an alien spaceship with a frozen "thing" found nearby. When the team decides to drill into it in order to study it, the organism is set loose and begins attacking the team.

About Me

Actor, Casting Director, Director, Broadcaster, Writer, Singer, Artistic
Director, Dramatur, Producer, Professor, Coach, Husband, Grandfather, Marketing
Professional and life long student Art Lynch joined the staff of John Robert
Powers in 1999. Lynch is also an adjunct professor at the Community College of
Southern Nevada, the Morning Edition Weekend Host for Nevada Public Radio and
one of 67 individuals who represent 126,000 actors as a member of the Board of
Directors of the Screen Actors Guild. He is the past president of the Nevada
Branch of the Screen Actors Guild and of the Professional Audio/Visual Communications
Association. A resident of Nevada since 1984, Lynch has an MA in Communications
from UNLV and a BA in Theater, Speech and Mass Communications from the
University of Illinois, Chicago. He is currently pursuing post-graduate studies
in theater, education and the entertainment industry. Art Lynch studied and
practiced the craft of acting in Chicago and California before settling in
Nevada. With his wife Laura, Art owned and operated a successful marketing
company with national clientele. Art was personally responsible for casting and
directing over 1,000 commercials and industrials, as well as assisting on film
and television projects in many ways. His career also includes earning awards
as a wire service, magazine and broadcast journalist. He is most proud,
however, of his daughters. Ann is a PhD in neuroscience and Beth is the proud
mother of his grandchildren, Evan and Elijah.

Short Film Festival

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